The Rob Ford Nation : by Andrew Taylor Toronto singer Jenny James is to croon her ballad in praise of Rob

Ford, Toronto's Mayor at the Ford Fest party Friday night in Scarborough... How are we to understand the buoyancy, the effervescence of a rogue politician who was pronounced dead in the water one month ago? We have failed to understand 'Ford Nation'. For the members of this populist constituency of Canadians, Ford is the embattled 'Little Big Man', and he has a constituency of devotees just as did Al Capone, John Joseph Gotti, Huey Long, Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow rolled into one. Is there any other way of accounting for Ford's ability to hang tough and still keep on shinin' like a drunken Bad Santa? Charisma. The charisma of the demagogue is never without his or her hour and enthusiasts. As Jenny James expresses it in serenade: Torontos defender/Economic mender/Blatant attacks wont make him collapse/Mayor Ford will bounce right back. Each demagogue has an expiry date but it is one that defies the logic of legal foul-ups, staff desertions, associations with criminality, and considerable citizen opposition. For the charismatic demagogue, the current that keeps their ship afloat is summed up and set to Words & Music by Jenny Jones. Ford has a base but more significantly he has floated through storms buoyed by the exculpatory vessel of Ford Nation. Progressives need to learn much more about this people and the causes of their alienation from any respect for the norms of political responsibility and propriety.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/07/05/mayor_rob_ford_new_song_praises_the_cost_cowboy. html